Eight Strings + 88

TCU’s annual Mimir Chamber Music Festival won’t happen until the summer, but this week still offers two performances for lovers of the sound of string quartets, both with TCU ties. Tamás Ungár is best known around these parts as a TCU piano professor and the man behind PianoTexas, but he’ll simply be a pianist when he joins the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth this weekend.

He’ll be in on Beethoven’s familiar “Archduke” Trio and Bartók’s unfamiliar Contrasts, an appropriately titled jazz-inflected piece for piano, violin, and clarinet that was commissioned by Benny Goodman. Sandwiched between Beethoven and Mendelssohn on the program, this strange work could very well make a huge impression.

The Cavani String Quartet has been in operation since 1984, but they’ve never played Texas before. This warm, vibrant all-female ensemble includes a number of contemporary works in their repertoire, including music by James Primosch and Margrit Brouwer. Tonight, though, they’ll play music from the more established musical canon (Haydn and Brahms) as well as a work by Karol Szymanowski, an undeservedly obscure composer whose chamber music is even more obscure than the rest of his output. We’ll see how well the Cavani have chosen.